Member Insight: Face-to-face time with the ‘customer’

by Jo Brautigam, BSN, RN, CCDS

In full disclosure, I got through nursing school by working at Disneyland. Disney has all their employees go through a customer service program. Controlling crowds, maintain safety, even asking for payment of high-ticket items must be done to make the customer feel good and increase profits. After all, the guests are paying to be at the “happiest place on earth.” The lessons I learned in that program have stuck with me throughout my professional career.

As a CDI specialist, it did not take me long to figure out my customers are the providers. Making them feel good about answering queries while ultimately making my company shine through documentation is an art all CDI professionals strive to develop. Of course, to the provider, we should emphasize that what they are doing is providing a clear picture to the payer, and ultimately a better outcome for their customer, the patient.